Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Research Grants (India)

SreePVF expanded the Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Research Grant to include the agricultural sciences. The grant aims to provide last-mile funding for novel and sustainable solutions that benefit small and marginal farmers in India. This program provides a 50-lakh grant over two years to individuals and institutions whose work aligns with their mission to improve agriculture practices and promote sustainable solutions in the field.

Scope and Focus Area

• The proposed projects for Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Research Grants in Agriculture shall focus on the following major criteria:
  • Science-based innovative solutions in any branch of Agricultural Sciences through translational research with the scope of immediate deployment.
  • Curated towards the needs of small and marginal farmers.
• The research outcome shall support the generation of a better livelihood and enable the empowerment of the rural farming community in India with an emphasis on small and marginal farmers.
• Wherever applicable, all grantees will also be provided, free of cost at a location in Andhra Pradesh, access to agricultural land with workshop facilities to validate their ideas and demonstrate the same to farmers.
• Possible focus areas, although not limited to, of the grant are:
  • Climate resilient cropping/agriculture systems, post-harvest technologies, Agri wastes to wealth for farmers, safety of workers during farm operations, Crop management, Agronomy, Plant protection, Crop improvement, Novel variety/hybrid field trial, Food compositional analysis, Food safety study, Soil management, Water management, Organic farming, Sustainable agriculture, Precision farming, Seed processing and storage, Agriculture biotechnology, Artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture, Internet of Things (IoT) in agriculture, Big data analytics in Agriculture, Farm machinery, Agro forestry, etc.

Funding Information

• The maximum budget for each grant is Rs.50 lakh.
• Grants will be disbursed in two tranches, with each tranche no more than Rs.25 lakh per year.

Eligible Costs

• Eligible costs for funding include capital expenditure (equipment), manpower, consumables, travel (no international travel) and local hospitality, contingency, overheads, field trials, safety studies, outsourcing, and others, such as training and awareness, workshops, publications, review meetings, etc., based on the requirement of the project.
• Sree PVF offers flexibility to the applicant in how they wish to utilize the budget as long as the requested costs are commensurate with the proposed research and are strongly justified.
• The host institution is expected to provide salary and research support for the duration of the grant period.

What are they looking for?

• Scientific Novelty and Innovation: What innovative and novel solutions are proposed?
• Relevance to Farming Community: How will the proposed solutions benefit small and marginal farming communities?
• Sustainable solutions: Are the proposed solutions sustainable and easily accessible?
• Cost-effectiveness: Does the proposal showcase cost-effectiveness?
• The expertise of Applicants: What is the expertise of the applicant in fulfilling project objectives?
• Readiness to Deploy: Is the proposed technology or research solution at a reasonable readiness level for deployment upon project completion?
• Green Technology: Does the proposed project adhere to green technology principles?
• Responsibility: Is the timeline and budget for the project on completion reasonable?

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications for grants are invited from interested individuals and teams from recognized universities, Government research institutes and not-for-profit research organizations based in India.
• The grant is envisaged as an enabler to deliver ready-to-deploy solutions for small and marginal farming communities. The outcome of the research, while based on advanced scientific knowledge, shall be readily translated into a fully sustainable solution featuring innovation, relevant to the farming community, cost-effective and easily accessible. The applicant shall emphasize the immediate deployment of the technology or research solution to the benefit of farmers.
• The proposals can be from a single institution or multi-institutional. International collaborations are also eligible; however, the lead organization must be based in India and the funds are provided to only the Indian side of the expenditure. In case of international collaborations, a strong justification must be provided as to why this collaboration is essential for the execution of the project, what value the collaboration will add to the proposal and why this work cannot be carried out in India. Any regulatory approvals needed from the Indian Government for the collaboration as well as material transfer, etc need to be highlighted.
• The Principal Investigator should be up to 50 years of age as on 15th May, 2024.
• The upper age limit for a woman PI can be up to 55 years as on 15th May, 2024.
• You’ll need to have already secured a salaried job and space and support from the host institution before applying.
• Sree PVF grants are not intended to duplicate support available from the Indian government or other sources.
• If you’ve already received substantial funding for your core activities or similar work, you’ll only be eligible if you can demonstrate that the activity for which funding is sought is additional to the work for which you had already received funding from other sources.
• Grants cannot be used for the salary of investigators.

For more information, visit Sree PVF.